Canon Pro-1100 unusable banding due to paper path issues

[Ryan Mack]

Just set up my 1100 yesterday and I'm already thinking of sending it back. I'm finding the the leading 3.5" and trailing 2.5" of a print cannot be used due to feed issues on the 3 papers I've tried (Canon Photo Paper Glossy 200gsm, Canon Pro Luster 260gsm that came with it, and my usual stock of Hahnemuhle Glossy Baryta 320gsm which does have a habit of curling). Since my primary use case was printing 11x17 on 13x19 paper this isn't going to work.

This isn't a media setting or profile issue as if I rotate the image 180 the problem is still on the same edge of the paper as before which is now the opposite end of the image. Paper isn't held flat enough at the start and there seems to be inconsistent paper advancement at the end. Maybe the vacuum strength just isn't high enough?

Anyone deal with this issue on the 1000 have any suggestions? I've tried to keep the paper flat as it exits by having it feed onto a level paper box but that didn't help. I was hoping the 1100 would be easier to use for cut sheets than my 4000 but that does not seem to be the case.

[MHMG]

Just set up my 1100 yesterday and I'm already thinking of sending it back. I'm finding the the leading 3.5" and trailing 2.5" of a print cannot be used due to feed issues on the 3 papers I've tried (Canon Photo Paper Glossy 200gsm, Canon Pro Luster 260gsm that came with it, and my usual stock of Hahnemuhle Glossy Baryta 320gsm which does have a habit of curling). Since my primary use case was printing 11x17 on 13x19 paper this isn't going to work.

This isn't a media setting or profile issue as if I rotate the image 180 the problem is still on the same edge of the paper as before which is now the opposite end of the image. Paper isn't held flat enough at the start and there seems to be inconsistent paper advancement at the end. Maybe the vacuum strength just isn't high enough?

Anyone deal with this issue on the 1000 have any suggestions? I've tried to keep the paper flat as it exits by having it feed onto a level paper box but that didn't help. I was hoping the 1100 would be easier to use for cut sheets than my 4000 but that does not seem to be the case.

At the very least, the Canon Photo Paper Glossy 200gsm and Canon Pro Luster 260gsm that came with your printer should be a "no-brainer" to print perfectly from the top tray, even printing with 1/4 inch margins or borderless (not that I recommend borderless).

Give Canon support a call. In my experience over the years with CanonUSA support, the Canon support team is very responsive and knowledgeable.

cheers,

Mark McCormick-Goodhart

[Ryan Mack]

Here's an example of what I'm seeing. There's two problems here... fine lines that look like a feed issue or head strikes and larger stripes that my gut says has to do with distance to print head changing when the tail end of the paper is freed from one set of rollers. This is a photo from a letter size sheet of Hahnemuhle Gloss Baryta 320gsm which is pretty flat. On the Canon Photo Paper Glossy 200gsm I get very similar issue about half an inch further down the page. On the Canon Pro Luster 260gsm I don't get any of those big stripes but I still get those fine lines that might be head strikes. Printing the same file with Canon-provided profile on my 4000 is clean and smooth. Will call Canon support tonight or tomorrow.

[Ryan Mack]

Spend 82 minutes on the phone with Canon support. Was able to resolve the large banding issue by enabling the "Avoid Paper Abrasion" option under Misc Settings -> Print Settings. It seems the media type for some Canon papers has the head set too low in some cases. Ironically I am still seeing the fine banding which is more what I would have expected from head strikes. So I suspect this is a feed issue. The printer doesn't have the same fine tuning option for feed adjustment that the 4000 has and the option is *only* available for custom media types, not the default media types. So I'm going to spend some time cloning Canon media and trying to recalibrate the feed adjustment.

One thing I've noticed that is worth mentioning... if you are making a custom media type using a base media type that makes manual feed mandatory there's something kind of broken. If you do a paper feed adjustment you will load the paper manually and get a reasonable value. But if you then use the color adjustment button, it forces you to use the top feeder and it re-does the paper feed adjustment. The adjustment for the top feed is *very* different than the manual feed so the color adjustment appears to be setting a badly wrong adjustment for the manual feed. So be sure if you're going to do a color adjustment that you do a feed adjustment on manual feed afterwards.

Stay tuned, hope to have some better news soon. At least this has gone from "clearly broken" to "not good enough for me but within what I would expect for a printer straight out of the box."

[Ryan Mack]

Well crap, tried another thick paper, Hahnemuhle Photo Baryta Silk 310gsm and back to square one. I'm starting to think the print head is somehow just too low in my unit that even setting height to High with the "avoid abrasion" bump somehow isn't enough for my favorite papers. Anyhow, Canon Support took down all the details and is escalating to the engineering team.

[MHMG]

Here's an example of what I'm seeing. There's two problems here... fine lines that look like a feed issue or head strikes and larger stripes that my gut says has to do with distance to print head changing when the tail end of the paper is freed from one set of rollers. This is a photo from a letter size sheet of Hahnemuhle Gloss Baryta 320gsm which is pretty flat. On the Canon Photo Paper Glossy 200gsm I get very similar issue about half an inch further down the page. On the Canon Pro Luster 260gsm I don't get any of those big stripes but I still get those fine lines that might be head strikes. Printing the same file with Canon-provided profile on my 4000 is clean and smooth. Will call Canon support tonight or tomorrow.

I can't tell from the photo what is the vertical orientation and what is the horizontal orientation of the print. Just to be sure, are all of your fine lines running parallel with the printhead direction?

If some are going all the way across the print but in the perpendicular direction to the printhead travel, i.e. not running parallel to the travel of the print head, then that's a problem with the optical encoder ribbon. The encoder ribbon on my pro-1000 got dirty once after a paper jam smeared some ink on it. Canon support talked me through how to clean it, and the vertical banding was resolved and never came back. The encoder is in part comprised of a very thin and delicate mylar plastic ribbon running the length of the printer's interior. It has fine lithographically etched lines on it that tell the printer precisely where the printhead is as it travels back and forth during printing. Many printers use precision stepper motors and other means of doing this, but the Pro-1000 uses this delicate optical encoder ribbon to give the printhead positioning information to the printer. My guess is your Pro-1100 uses the same optical encoder ribbon part, but I don't know for sure.

Hence, if some of your fine lines are running in the cross direction to the printhead travel, it can comes from dirt/ink smudging or another problem with the encoder ribbon. If perpendicular fine line banding is indeed part of your issue, then I suggest you talk to Canon support again and raise the encoder ribbon issue with them.

[Ryan Mack]

I can't tell from the photo what is the vertical orientation and what is the horizontal orientation of the print. Just to be sure, are all of your fine lines running parallel with the printhead direction?

Sorry for the ambiguity. The ruler is measuring the distance from the trailing edge of the paper that came out last from the printer. All banding is parallel to the direction of print head movement. Light banding is visible throughout the image (may still be a feed adjustment issue) but the heavy large bands are within the last 3 inches of the print.

I will say Canon support has very friendly although we haven't fixed it yet. Spent 2:20 on the phone with a really nice guy in Albuquerque.

[Ryan Mack]

On the DP review forum where I had mentioned this a user posted this screengrab from one of the review videos posted last week. It looks like this may not be an isolated issue. I hope it can be addressed with a firmware update.

[Ryan Mack]

I started a return with B&H, will see if Canon has a solution in the next few days or it’s going back.

[sunnyherman]

Sorry you're having this issue. I never had any such issues with my Pro 1000 so I can't imagine why there would be these issues with the Pro 1100 since it's supposedly pretty much the same as the Pro 1000, chassis and all. It would seem that it would have to be either a driver issue or a manufacturing tolerance issue.

[Ryan Mack]

After about 30 tries I have my first usable print. I have to use 17x22" paper for a 11x17" print so I can avoid the last 3 inches and I enabled the half second delay between scans. I also had to put something under the paper as it emerges so that there's no sudden change in paper flex when the front edge goes from erect to drooping. It seems to me that the printer is extremely sensitive to printhead distance to the paper changing and for a 310gsm stiff paper that I print on the paper feed mechanism does a bad job of keeping the paper stable. I have the vacuum feed enabled and I can hear it running, but perhaps it's not strong enough or just not working properly.

[mcbroomf]

I realize that you'd just be throwing away paper, but can you run a full sized print with the vacuum turned off and compare it to one of you previous bad prints?  If the banding is similar it would point to the vacuum not working (even though you can hear it).  It might explain most if not all of the symptoms.

[Ryan Mack]

I realize that you'd just be throwing away paper, but can you run a full sized print with the vacuum turned off and compare it to one of you previous bad prints?  If the banding is similar it would point to the vacuum not working (even though you can hear it).  It might explain most if not all of the symptoms.

I do think I tried one print with the vacuum off to see if it was somehow causing the problem and there was no change. I guess now that I have a working method I could try turning it off and see if it goes badly? I was going to call Canon support today and see if they can walk me through support mode to check the vacuum somehow. I know how to get into support mode on my 4000 and I would bet there's an option that would let me turn on the vacuum so I can stick my hand in there with the lid open and check for a draft?

[mcbroomf]

Not sure about checking for a draft, but on an Epson (I don't have a Canon) if you feed in a sheet of paper, once it's located in the correct position the vacuum turns on.  At that point if you try to pull the paper out the vacuum is strong enough (to a "normal or firm" pull) that it will not budge.  Not quite the same as checking dynamically as the print is in progress, but it would identify a gross fault with the printer if you can do the same and the print is fairly lose.

[Ryan Mack]

Not sure about checking for a draft, but on an Epson (I don't have a Canon) if you feed in a sheet of paper, once it's located in the correct position the vacuum turns on.  At that point if you try to pull the paper out the vacuum is strong enough (to a "normal or firm" pull) that it will not budge.  Not quite the same as checking dynamically as the print is in progress, but it would identify a gross fault with the printer if you can do the same and the print is fairly lose.

Yeah let me try. That definitely works on the roll fed printers because I can lift the rollers so it's only the vacuum holding it still. On this sheet feeder I'm not sure I can move it without the wheels gripping it.

[Ryan Mack]

I was able to check the vacuum is on but not really evaluate the suction beyond there being a bit of a draft I could feel with my fingers. I also watched the print run through out by bypassing the lid closed sensor and nothing is visibly wrong. So whatever the issue is with the paper feed it's pretty subtle. In any case, I had some time today to follow up with Canon Support and they are shipping a replacement. Fingers crossed it doesn't have the same issue.

[mcbroomf]

That's good news.  I see that Keith Cooper has his demo system now so it will be interesting to see on 2 new machines if this was a one off problem.

[Ryan Mack]

Sadly I see the same issue with the replacement printer. I would not recommend this printer if your primary use case is dark grey images on 310gsm baryta paper.

[mcbroomf]

Unbelievable! 

I sent you a PM

[Ryan Mack]

So just to balance things out a bit, I'm very happy with the output using other images and paper. I think I just chose a tough image and paper combination for my first print and then got fixated on trying to make it work. That was a print for a print competition and I usually choose ones I know are hard to print to test myself.

Currently printing a small edition of my wife's recent Bird Photographer of the Year image and it's turning out wonderfully.